How to write a short story  Your short story will be due on Thursday- The day of the final

Journal  Building a character  Entry 1: Who is the most peculiar, colorful, or unique person you know? Describe this person in detail without using a name; try to capture all the little things the person does, says, believes that makes him or her different. Also tell how the person looks, what he or she wears, and even how others think about the person.

Character Profile  In order to know our characters better than anyone, we need to describe our characters as in-depth as possible. It is okay to know more about our characters than the audience will have to know.

Short Story Tips ·Get off to a fast start ·Has a limited number of characters and scenes ·Starts as close to a conclusion as possible ·Deals with only one problem ·Covers a short period of time

What makes our stories original  We need: The unusual, The unexpected, conflict, and dialogue that moves the conflict

Short Story Journal #2 Answer these questions about your character  Name Friends  Age Favorite foods  Job Drinking patterns  Ethnicity Phobias  Appearance Faults  Residence Secrets  Pets Something hated  Religion Illnesses  Hobbies Memories  Single or married? Nervous Gestures  Children? Sleep patterns  Temperament  Favorite color

What we have to know about your character  Appearance. Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character.  Action. Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions rather than simply listing adjectives.  Speech. Develop the character as a person -- don't merely have your character announce important plot details.  Thought. Bring the reader into your character's mind, to show them your character's unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.

 Brainstorming. If you are having trouble deciding on a plot, try brainstorming. Suppose you have a protagonist whose husband comes home one day and says he doesn't love her any more and he is leaving. What are actions that can result from this situation?  Examples: She becomes a workaholic, she can become an alocholic, she kills him, she kills herself, she has a torrid affair with the milk man (Oberweis man), becomes a shopaholic, changes her personality, speed dating, maxes out credit cards, takes a road trip.

8 ways to reveal a character  #1 Actions  As Kevin moved down the street his feet made a steady echo sound against the pavement. He whistled despite the loud rumble of the traffic and the car horns. When someone yelled out the window of his or her car to watch where he was going, he just waved back like he was watching a best friend heading home. He passed by the garbage on the sidewalk and the old woman pushing the shopping cart filled with newspaper, and continued to smile as he headed toward Cindy’s house. Nothing could erase that smile from his face, not even the coldness of the streets he called home.

 #2 Dialogue  “I ain’t gonna leave you here, Ma’am... not with you needin’ help and all,” Jimmy said as he walked back to his truck to get the jack. “I’d help anybody who needed it; my momma taught me better’en to just leave people. The good Lord’ll make it up to me.”  “I don’t know...,” Linda stuttered. She had barely rolled down her window to hear Jimmy when he had left his pick-up truck and offered help. “You know what they say about your kind...”

 #3 Physical Description  Other guys walking through the hallway were taller and even more handsome, but there was something about Billy Belaire. His arms swung loose at his side and his dark hair was long and pulled back behind his head, held by a rubber band. The dark jacket he wore was straight out f the local thrift shop, she could tell, but the way he wore it suggested a sense of pride, or at least a lack of caring what others thought about him.

 # 4 Idiosyncracies  Junior tapped his fingertips against the table and looked at his watch constantly. His leg bounced up and down and he gulped the hot coffee as if it would hurry up his friend’s arrival.

 # 5 Objects/Possessions  Michael touched the locket around his neck and rolled it between his fingers. His mother had given him that locket, with her picture inside, when he had left to live with his father. What would she think of him now?

 # 6 Reactions  Tony’s words stung Laura. It wasn’t what she expected to hear. They had been dating forover a month now, how could he do this to her? How could he break her heart? All three of their dates had been fun; he had said so himself. As Tony watched the floodgate of her eyes begin to open he looked at his watch. Jeez, I hope I can make it to the gym on time.

 #7 Thoughts  He began to remember when he was a freshman in high school. The seniors really thought they were something back then, always trying to play their little pranks on the ninth graders. He knew at that moment he couldn’t be one of those kinds of people. He walked over to Jeff and Larry to tell them it was time to stop.

 #8 Background Information  Miles knew what it meant to be alone. When he was a child growing up his father had been in the military. They had traveled from Florida, to Georgia, to California, to Kentucky. He had rarely had a friend for very long. By the leap from California he had already decided having friends was a risk; the fewer the friends, the easier it was to leave. This philosophy had made him a real outsider at Glenview High School. In the six months he had been there he had not really made a single friend but as he stood there staring at Sheila, he realized that just might have to change.

Show-Don’t Tell  Obviously in each of the paragraphs, he is “telling” rather than “showing” the scene.  Please rewrite one of the passages in your own words so that you are creating a snapshot in the mind of the reader.  Rewrite the passage below in order to show the scene rather than just tell about it.  Janie’s room was just the way she had pictured it. When Susie walked into her best friend’s room she saw a lot of neat stuff. It was just like her friend.

What’s my topic  You will receive a story topic in order to assure that you are able to get started. You may also come up with your own topic if you choose to do so.  Requirements: Dialogue, conflict, a couple characters, showing instead of telling.  The short story must be 3-4 pages.

Possible Topics  The woman in 3B loses weight to find love.  Fred, the monster takes up cooking to discover…  The cat lady gets married to feel young again.  I tried getting on television. I tried wearing a disguise. I tried writing an anonymous letter. I did all of this in order to get God’s attention.